If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in public administration, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #103 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Ohio to determine which ones were the best for public administration students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 120 bachelor's degrees in public administration to qualified students.
DEBUG: Checking offer "Public Administration (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Public Administration (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Public Administration (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Public Administration (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MBA - Public Administration (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MBA - Public Administration (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BS in Business Administration - Public Administration" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BS in Business Administration - Public Administration" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MBA in Public Administration" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MBA in Public Administration" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Human Services" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "BA in Human Services" REJECTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BSW - Social Work (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "BSW - Social Work (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "DSW - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "DSW - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MSW - Social Work (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "MSW - Social Work (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "PhD - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "PhD - Social Work (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Doctorate Programs (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Doctorate Programs (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Social Work & Social Sciences Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Urban Planning (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Urban Planning (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Urban Planning (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.5
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Urban Planning (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.5)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 5
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 3 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 3
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 3 offers with relevance >= 1.0
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on public administration students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other public administration students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for public administration to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public administration related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public administration students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Public Administration Bachelor's Degree Schools in Ohio list, to help you choose the best school for you.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "social-services-public-administration//public-administration"
It is difficult to beat Ohio State University - Main Campus if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in public administration. Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the public admin program report average early career income of $41,650.
Miami University - Oxford is a good decision for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in public administration. Located in the fringe town of Oxford, Miami University - Oxford is a public university with a large student population.
Soon after graduating, public admin bachelor's recipients typically earn an average of $45,278 in the first five years of their career.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
by our College Data Analytics Team
.jpg){kind=link}